EBA 5th Anniversary Conference

The European Banking Authority (EBA) marked its first five years of activities with a conference on the past and future of the EU banking sector. The conference took place on Friday 5 February from 09:00 to 13:05 (UK time) in London.

José Antonio Álvarez, Chief Executive Officer of Banco Santander

José Antonio Álvarez became Chief Executive Officer of Banco Santander group in January 2015, after having served as Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2015 and Head of Finance Division from 2002 to 2004 in the same group.

Before joining Banco Santander, he was Head of the Finance Division of the BBVA (1999 to 2002) and Argentaria (1995 to 1999). Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Banco Hipotecario de España, Vice President of Finanpostal Gestión Fondos de Inversión y Pensiones and in various roles at Banco de Crédito Industrial and Instituto Nacional de Industria.

He has also served as a member of the boards of directors of Santander Consumer Finance S.A, Santander Consumer Bank AG and Banco de Crédito Local S.A., among others, and on the supervisory boards of several of Grupo Banco Santander´s autonomous subsidiaries in Poland, Germany and the United States. He was Chairman of the Banking Supervision Committee at the European Banking Federation (EBF) from 2009 to 2012 and is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of Santander Brasil and SAM Investments Holdings Limited.

Mr. Álvarez holds a Bachelor´s Degree (Hons) in Economics and Business from Santiago de Compostela University and a Master´s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Andrew Bailey, Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) of the United Kingdom

Andrew Bailey assumed the role of Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) on 1 April 2013. As Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA, Andrew Bailey is also a member of the Bank's Court of Directors, the PRA Board, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority.

While retaining his role as Executive Director of the Bank, Andrew joined the Financial Services Authority in April 2011 as Deputy Head of the Prudential Business Unit and Director of UK Banks and Building Societies. In July 2012, Andrew became Managing Director of the Prudential Business Unit, with responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks and insurance companies. Andrew was appointed as a voting member of the interim Financial Policy Committee at its June 2012 meeting.

Previously, Andrew has worked at the Bank in a number of areas, most recently as Executive Director for Banking Services and Chief Cashier, as well as Head of the Bank's Special Resolution Unit (SRU). Previous roles include Governor's Private Secretary, and Head of the International Economic Analysis Division in Monetary Analysis.

Jaime Caruana, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

Jaime Caruana became General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on 1 April 2009. Previously, Mr Caruana was Financial Counsellor to the Managing Director and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

From 2000 to 2006, Mr Caruana was the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Spain's central bank, and in that capacity, served on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB). He was also the Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) from 2003 to 2006 and has been a member of the Financial Stability Forum (now the Financial Stability Board- FSB) since 2003.

Prior to joining the Bank of Spain, Mr Caruana worked in the private financial sector for nearly 10 years. Mr Caruana is also a member of the Group of Thirty.

Andrea Enria, Chairperson of the European Banking Authority (EBA)

Andrea Enria is the first Chairperson of the European Banking Authority (EBA). He took up office on 1 March 2011 and is serving his second term of five years. He represents the EBA and is responsible for preparing the work of the Board of Supervisors and chairs its meetings as well as those of the Management Board.

Prior to taking up this role, Andrea Enria was the Head of the Regulation and Supervisory Policy Department at the Bank of Italy. He had previously served as Secretary General of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (the EBA's predecessor). In the past, he also held the position of Head of Financial Supervision Division at the European Central Bank (ECB). Before joining the ECB, he worked for several years in the Research Department and in the Supervisory Department of the Bank of Italy.

He holds a BA in Economics from the Bocconi University and an MPhil. in Economics from Cambridge University.

Adam Farkas, Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA)

Adam Farkas is the first Executive Director of the European Banking Authority, a position he has held since 2011. Previously, he was the Chairman of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority from 2009 to 2010. Prior to joining the regulatory and supervisory community, he held senior positions in the banking sector including three years as the Co-CEO of Intesa Group's subsidiary in Budapest, and another three years at the helm of Allianz Bank, setting up a retail banking operation for the market leading insurance company in Hungary. Before that he spent four years as a central banker as Managing Director and Member of the Board of the National Bank of Hungary with responsibility for reserve management and market operations.

Mr Farkas started his career as an assistant professor in Finance at Corvinus University, Budapest and was a visiting fellow at London Business School and also at Erasmus University. He holds a doctorate in Finance from Corvinus University, and an MSc. in Computer Based Simulation and Modelling from Sunderland University (UK).

Edouard Fernandez-Bollo is currently the Secretary General of the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de resolution (ACPR), the integrated French prudential supervisor. He is also a Member of the European Banking Authority (EBA) and of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). Since 2007, he has been chairing the Basel Committee Expert group on anti-money laundering and combating of the financing of terrorism (AML CFT) issues.

Mr Fernandez-Bollo joined the Banque de France (French Central Bank) in 1988, where he occupied different posts dealing with a number of issues related to banking regulation and licensing, European harmonisation and banking resolutions. As of 2000 he was in charge of the legal secretariat of the Commission Bancaire, the French supervisory authority and of its anti-money laundering policy unit. In 2004, he became its General counsel and in 2008 its deputy General Secretary. Prior to that, from 2010 to 2013 he was deputy General Secretary of the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel (ACP)

Mr Fernandez-Bollo completed his post-graduate studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud, in the Humanities and Social sciences Section.

Monique Goyens, Director General of Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC), the European Consumer Organisation

As Director General of Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC), Monique represents 41 independent national consumer associations in 31 European countries, acting as a strong consumer voice in Brussels, ensuring that consumer interests are given weight in the development of policies and raising the visibility and effectiveness of the consumer movement through lobbying EU institutions and media contacts.

As a consumer expert and advocate, she was member of the EU High-level Expert Group on reforming the structure of the EU banking sector (Liikanen group - 2012), the EU High-level Group on the sustainability of the food supply chain (2011-2014) and the EU Resource Efficiency Platform (2012-2014). She is a delegate in the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change of the European Economic and Social Committee as well as an effective member of the Euro Retail Payments Board. Recently, she has been appointed in the Advisory Group of the European Commission on the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP).

In her capacity as BEUC Director General, Monique is currently EU co-chair of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) a network of EU and US consumer organisations, and she also represents BEUC at Consumers International, the international consumer organisation.

Apart from championing consumer' rights, Monique's passions/challenges are her family, cooking for friends and long walks with her golden retriever.

Roberto Gualtieri, MEP and Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Roberto Gualtieri has been a member of the European Parliament since 2009, where he is the Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) and of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET).

Within the European Parliament he held, among others, the following tasks. In 2010, he was the S&D Group negotiator within the European Parliament negotiating team on the creation of the European External Action Service. In 2011, he was co-rapporteur (with Elmar Brok) for the European Council decision amending Article 136 of the TFEU with regard to a stability mechanism for Member States whose currency is the euro. In 2011, he was member of the European Parliament negotiating team for the establishment of the "Fiscal Compact".

In 2012, he was appointed S&D Group coordinator for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO). In 2012, he was S&D negotiator for the European Parliament in the working group set up by Herman Van Rompuy on a "Genuine Economic and Monetary Union". In July 2014, he was elected Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON).

Mr Gualtieri graduated in literature and philosophy (1992) and has a research doctorate (PhD) in contemporary history (1997). Since 1995, he has authored several books and articles on Italian and international history of the twentieth century and on the history of the European integration.

Mr Gualtieri is also an associate professor of contemporary history at 'La Sapienza' University, Rome and a member of the national board of the Partito Democratico (Italian Democratic Party).

Martin Hellwig, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Martin Hellwig is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods and a Professor of Economics at the University of Bonn. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a past President of the European Economic Association and the German Economic Association, and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. He was a Member and Chair of the German Monopolies Commission (1998 – 2006) and of two committees advising the German government in the financial crisis. In 2011-2015, he was Chair and Vice-Chair of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

Martin Hellwig studied economics at the University of Heidelberg (Diploma 1970) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD 1973). He has held academic positions in Stanford, Princeton, Bonn, Basel, Harvard and Mannheim. The economics of financial markets and financial institutions has always figured highly on his research agenda. In the 1990s, he was among the first to point to the implications of correlations between counterparty credit risk and underlying risks in hedge operations, for systemic interdependence and the assessment of system risk. His book with Anat Admati, "The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about it", was published by Princeton University Press in 2013.

Jonathan Hill is the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. Amongst his various responsibilities, he ensures that financial markets in the EU are properly regulated and supervised, so as to make them stable, competitive and transparent.

A British national, he was a member of the United Kingdom (UK) Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords (2013 to 2014) and Under Secretary of State for Education (2010 to 2013). He was Political Secretary to UK Prime Minister John Major (1992 to 1994). Commissioner Hill, who is 55, worked in publishing before joining the Research Department of the Conservative Party in 1985. He spent a number of years in the private sector working in public relations and crisis management, and in 1998 set up his own consultancy Quiller Consultants.

He took up his current position in 2014 and one of his tasks as Commissioner is to put in place the building blocks for a Capital Markets Union by 2019.

Gerhard Hofmann, Member of the Board of National Association of German Cooperative Banks (Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken - BVR)

Gerhard Hofmann is a Member of the Board of National Association of German Cooperative Banks (Board of Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken- BVR) and is responsible for regulatory issues, taxation and institutional protection scheme. He is also Vice-President and Member of the Executive Committee of European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BAG Bankaktiengesellschaft Hamm, Member of the Supervisory Board of KfW Frankfurt, and Chairman of the Audit Committee of KfW.

He was Chairman of European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC) in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Between 2009 and 2014 Mr. Hofmann was Member of EFRAG Supervisory Board in Brussels.

He has also held various positions, among others in the economics department, financial accounting, bank regulation and supervision. From 1999 he was Head of Central Division Banks and Financial Stability of the Deutsche Bundesbank and Central Bank Director. He was also a member of the Basel Committee, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) and held memberships to other high-ranking organisations in the international financial fora.

Elke König, Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB)

Dr Elke König is Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB) where she is responsible for the management of the organisation, the work of the Board, the budget, all staff, and the Executive and Plenary sessions of the Board. She also has some operational units that directly report to her in the Executive Directorate such as the General Counsel, the Policy Coordination and International Relations Unit, the Communications Office and the Internal Audit function.

She was President of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - BaFin) from 2012 until 2015. After qualifying in business administration and obtaining a doctorate, Dr König spent many years working for companies in the financial and insurance sector. From 1980 to 1990, she worked for KPMG Deutsche Treuhandgesellschaft in Cologne, auditing and advising insurance undertakings, from 1986 as a holder of a special statutory authority (Prokuristin) and from 1988 as a director and partner. From 1990 to 2002, Dr König was a member of the senior management of the Munich Re Group (Head of Accounting); she then moved to Hannover Rückversicherung AG as Chief Financial Officer. From 2010 to the end of 2011, Dr König was a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London. Dr König was also a representative of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism.

She is Chair of the Resolution Steering Group of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

David T Llewellyn, Professor of Money and Banking at Loughborough University, UK

David Llewellyn is Professor of Money and Banking at Loughborough University, External Member, Centre for Cooperative Studies, Kellogg College, University of Oxford; Associate Senior Research Fellow, at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels. He has been an Honorary Visiting Professor at the CASS Business School in London, and Visiting Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

In March 2011, he was appointed a member of the Banking Stakeholders Group of the European Banking Authority (EBA), and elected as Vice Chairman in July (later as Chairman). He was re-appointed in 2014 and elected Chairman.

His recent research includes a project at the CEPS in Brussels on the economics and role of European cooperative banks, and a second project at the CEPS for the European Parliament on trends in European banking. Current research includes projects related to culture within banking; the post-crisis regulatory regime; and the economics of mutuality in the financial sector in the UK and across Europe.

He has written extensively on the analysis of banking and financial markets and their regulation, and is a regular contributor to in-house seminars and workshops at central banks, regulatory agencies, the EU Commission, and the European Central Bank (ECB).

Mario Nava, Director of Regulation and prudential supervision of financial institutions, at DG Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union of the European Commission

Mario Nava is currently Director of the Regulation and prudential supervision of financial institutions' directorate in the Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union DG (formerly the Internal Markets and Services DG) of the European Commission. Prior to that, from April 2011, he held the position of Acting Director. From November 2009 until September 2013, he was Head of the Banking and Financial Conglomerates Unit.

Previously in the Internal Markets and Service DG, from May 2004 to October 2009, he was the Head of the Financial Markets Infrastructure Unit. From December 2007 to May 2008, he was also Acting Director for the Financial Services Policy and Financial Markets Directorate.

From 2001-2004, he was a member of the Group of Policy Advisers of the EU Commission President, Romano Prodi. Within the Group he was responsible for economic matters in general and in particular the EU budget and economic policy coordination between the Member States.

Prior to joining the Group of Policy Advisers, he worked first for the Commission's Taxation Department (1994-1996), then for the Budget Department (1996-2000), and then in the Cabinet of the Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti (2000-2001).

Alongside his work at the Commission, he is active in research and teaching, and he is a visiting professor at Milan's Bocconi University, as well as an occasional lecturer in many universities across Europe.

He holds a first degree in Economics from the Bocconi University (1989) in Milan, an MA from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (1992) and a PhD in Public Finance from the London School of Economics (1996).

Chris De Noose, Managing Director of the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG)

Chris De Noose is the Managing Director of the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG). In addition, he is a Member of the European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC), Member of the Board of the Hochschule der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, Member of the European Payments Council, Member of the Board of Child and Youth Finance International, Member of the Banking Stakeholders Group (BSG) of the European Banking Authority (EBA) and Secretary General of the Mediterranean Confederation. Furthermore, he is also a Member of the Kuratorium of the Foundation for International Co-operation of the German Savings Banks.

Danièle Nouy, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) at the European Central Bank (ECB)

Danièle Nouy joined the European Central Bank (ECB) in January 2014 as Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), following a 40-year career in banking supervision.

She began her working life as a supervisor at the Banque de France. During the early years of her career Ms Nouy was posted to the United States as the Banque de France representative in New York returning to spend time as a policy expert in the Foreign Department. She returned to her supervisory roots to head the research department and policy group in 1987 and was appointed director of financial supervision in 1990. In 1993 she became the French member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). She then served as Deputy Secretary General of the Basel Committee from 1996 to 1998. She was appointed Secretary General of the Basel Committee in 1998, a position which she held until 2003. Returning to France, she became the head of the French supervisory authority, which she held for the next ten years: first as Secretary General of the Commission Bancaire and, following its merger with the insurance supervisor, as Secretary General of the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR).

Ms Nouy holds a Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, and a Post-graduate Certificate in Law. She authored numerous papers on international and European financial supervision and regulation.

Frédéric Oudéa, President of the European Banking Federation (EBF)

Frédéric Oudéa has been the president of the European Banking Federation (EBF) since 1 January 2015 and is also the Chief Executive Officer to Société Générale.

From 1987 to 1995, Frédéric Oudéa held various positions in the French senior civil service (Audit department of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Budget Ministry, Private Office of the Minister of Budget and Communication). In 1995, he joined Société Générale and in 1996 he was appointed Deputy Head and then Head of the bank's Corporate Banking arm in London. In 1998, he became Head of Global Supervisory and Development of the Equities division. In May 2002, he was named Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Société Générale Group. He became Chief Financial Officer of the Group in January 2003. In 2008 he was appointed CEO of the Group, before becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2009. Following the regulatory split between the roles of chairman and chief executive, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2015.

In 2010 he was named Chairman of the Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital (SCRC) at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and President of the European Banking Federation (EBF) since January 2015. In September 2015 he was named Chairman of the French Banking Federation (FBF).

Frédéric Oudéa is a graduate of the French Ecole Polytechnique and of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration.

Guntram B. Wolff, Director of Bruegel

Guntram Wolff has been the Director of Bruegel since June 2013. His research focuses on the European economy and governance, on fiscal and monetary policy and global finance. He regularly testifies to the European Finance Ministers' Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, the European Parliament, the German Parliament (Bundestag) and the French Parliament (Assemblée Nationale) and is a member of the French Prime Minister's Conseil d'Analyse Economique.

Guntram Wolff is also a member of the Solvay Brussels School's international advisory board of the Brussels Free University. He joined Bruegel from the European Commission, where he worked on the macroeconomics of the Euro area and the reform of Euro area governance. Prior to joining the Commission, he was coordinating the research team on fiscal policy at Deutsche Bundesbank. He also worked as an adviser to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

JOSÉ VIÑALS Financial Counsellor and the Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

José Viñals is the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also represents the IMF at the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

His professional career has been closely tied to the Central Bank of Spain, where he served as the Vice-Governor after holding successive positions. He has also held the positions of Chairman of the European Central Bank International Relations Committee, and Chairman of Spain's Deposit Guarantee Funds.

He has been a member of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on the Global Financial System, of the European Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee and of the high-level group appointed by the President of the European Commission to examine economic challenges in the European Union. He was also a member of the European Union Economic and Financial Committee and a Board Member of the Spanish Securities Authority.

He holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and is a former Faculty Member of the Economics Department at Stanford University in the USA.